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In the hours before Israeli warplanes carried out an attack on Iran early Friday, raising fresh fears of all-out war in the region, President Donald Trump made clear it was an outcome he hoped to avoid.
“I don’t want them going in because, I mean, that would blow it,” he said, referring to his diplomatic efforts to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The fact Israel went in anyway – without any US involvement, and against the president’s publicly stated wishes – now thrusts Trump into one of the biggest tests of his young presidency.
By his own telling, the strikes risk scuttling his attempts at diplomacy with Tehran, even as his top envoy was preparing to depart for Oman for another round of talks this weekend.
